Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)

We have been through this quite a few times, which I suppose is why other noble Lords are not jumping to their feet. Why not wait for a binding ruling? We have discussed previously that that would leave us in a disadvantaged position in terms of negotiation, were we to be negotiating with Mauritius following a binding ruling. The point that there can never be a binding ruling because no tribunal exists that could make one rather begs the question of why the previous Government committed themselves to 11 rounds of negotiations to protect themselves from something that could never happen. Having said all that, the amendments tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Lilley, concern the legal rationale and the risks of the agreement, including, in Amendment 10, waiting for a binding ruling on sovereignty over the archipelago. I must again reject this argument and this amendment, given that waiting for such a thing, with the treaty with Mauritius not ratified, would put us in an incredibly weak position. It would risk the future of the base, the delay would be highly dangerous to UK national security, and we are just not going to do it. We published our legal rationale for the deal on the day that the treaty was signed. The House has dedicated hours to debating that rationale. It has been the subject of two reports by respected committees in this place. The Government have been consistently clear throughout all this that the legal case was compelling and there was no credible alternative for managing the risk, which is why the previous Government undertook so many rounds of negotiation. We are confident that this agreement secures the base from legal threat, protecting UK national security for generations. I hope the noble Lord does not press his amendments to a vote.